The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Nov. 21, 2017

Filed:

Jul. 24, 2015
Applicant:

Nanometrics Incorporated, Milpitas, CA (US);

Inventors:

Jiangtao Hu, Sunnyvale, CA (US);

Bingqing Li, Singapore, SG;

Zhuan Liu, Fremont, CA (US);

Assignee:

Nanometrics Incorporated, Milpitas, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 17/50 (2006.01); G01N 21/956 (2006.01); G03F 7/20 (2006.01); H01L 21/66 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 17/5081 (2013.01); G01N 21/956 (2013.01); G03F 7/70625 (2013.01); G03F 7/70683 (2013.01); G01B 2210/56 (2013.01); H01L 22/30 (2013.01);
Abstract

A measurement target for a semiconductor device is designed. The semiconductor device includes a structure to be measured that has a spectrum response that is comparable to or below system noise level for an optical critical dimension measurement device to be used to measure the structure. The measurement target is designed by obtaining a process window and design rules for the semiconductor device and determining prospective pitches through modeling to identify pitches that produce a spectrum response from the structures that is at least 10 times greater than a system noise level for the optical critical dimension measurement device. A resonance window for each prospective pitch is determined and robustness of the resonance window is determined through modeling. Pitches of the array are selected based on the prospective pitches, resonance windows, and robustness. The target design may accordingly be produced and used to generate a measurement target.


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